Hello, I am currently a student majoring in drama at my community college. My dream is to enter one of the schools, UCLA,USC,NYU TISCH, or UNCSA. My plan is to try and transfer in the fall of next year to either of these schools. But first ( if it is possible ) to anyone who has attended or who was admitted to (or works at) either of these schools could share with me there stats. Anything from GPA, extracurriculars , personal statement tips, audition tips, and whether or not you had a bulky resume would help. If you can’t answer all of these questions it will be fine. Anything you can answer will help me understand the admissions process of either of these schools a lot better. BTW my gpa is a 3.1 but hopefully it will go up by the time I apply
@may007. You should post this in the theater/drama forum under college majors. You will get A LOT of feedback.
To offer my input:
My daughter started UNCSA this fall. Many of her classmates in first year are transfer students. For most BFA acting programs you start as a first year (freshman) as it requires four years to get through the program (can’t enter as a sophomore or junior). However some (maybe most???) of your academic credits may transfer at UNCSA. My daughter went in with many transfer credits just from AP and concurrent enrollment college courses she took In high school.
I would recommend sitting down with academic advisors at the schools or contacting them via email/phone to get an idea on what would transfer and if you would enter as a freshman/first year. Also ask how it all translates into the financial aspect. At UNCSA the transfer credits save my daughter time and classes but not money. A full time student is a full time student in terms of tuition. She would have to take less than 12 credit hours to get a tuition break. Other schools you may pay by credit hour so that may save money if a course transfers and you take 12 vs 18 credits.
As for her stats - UNCSA is all about the audition. Super high stats aren’t required. That said, my daughter (and it appears many of her classmates) did have fairly high stats. 30+ on ACT, mainly A’s and some B’s for grades. We do know kids admitted there with lower grades and test scores. That doesn’t seem to be a deciding factor if they want you.
I have heard that theater (audition) has helped people get into UCLA when they may not have on grades alone. USC may be similar. However, grades are factored in.
NYU Tish weighs audition and grades/test scores equally. You need both to get admitted. They will tell you it is 50-50 there. (Where others look more at audition).
I would also recommend you look carefully at each schools curriculum and program. All you have named above are very different from each other. UNCSA is a true conservatory and is very intense training in terms of studio hours. It is a small program of around 25-28 kids per year for BFA acting. NYU is conservatory style and has a greater emphasis on academic classes two days a week, and they admit several hundred first years into the drama school and then divide you up into studios - they place you and you don’t know your studio assignment until after acceptance. UCLA is a BA program (not a BFA) and it is obviously a good one - however we know a student who felt it was not intense enough training but rather started out as a general theater studies degree which she didn’t like and transferred out of the program. No disrespect to UCLA- it is a very well regarded BA program. I hear the intensity increases through the 4 years there. I am just pointing out how different schools are in terms of drama programs and students need to know that going in to be sure they are getting what they want.
Good luck. My daughter LOVES UNCSA. The training is very intense. The faculty is top of their fields. She lives and breathes her art daily, which is what she wanted. If you have questions about UNCSA feel free to PM me or post.
I want to clarify my above post. All the schools you mentioned -NYU, UCLA, USC and UNCSA are all amazing. I think some of what I wrote may be interpreted as negative. Not my intention. I really know the most about UNCSA as out of those you named that was the only one my daughter applied to. We have friends who have looked at, applied and gone to the other three. All are wonderful and have different things to offer.
Just wanted to put that clarification out there!
And, I am sure you know this, but admission to any of the above is extremely difficult. UNCSA drama had a 4.5 acceptance rate this year. Drama schools (audition based) generally have a 10% or less admission rate. This is not to discourage you. However, create a well rounded list of schools to increase chances of acceptance to one. There are also some good non-audition programs worth exploring. Again the drama/theater forum has great info.